20Under40 is a collection
of essays about
the future of the nonprofit arts sector and
its next generation
of leaders. Editor
Edward P. Clapp assembled
the collection to understand “why
a career in the arts seems to be particularly
challenging for younger professionals.”

The 20 essays are all by writers under age
40. Some are practicing artists, others are
arts administrators; there are essays by academics,
management consultants, bloggers,
screenwriters, educators, and, in one case, an
MIT-trained physicist who hosts the Discovery
Channel show Time Warp. Clapp wants
to disseminate these viewpoints because he
believes that the arts sector is in crisis—that it “suffers from an insecurity complex and
operates from a position of fear.”

The most compelling essays are those
that call for reform in how arts organizations
are run, are supported, and engage artists
and audiences. Some authors criticize arts
programmers for their insularity, funders
for their cautiousness, marketers
for their conventionality, and arts
educators for their dogmatism.
Others write about the mismatch
between abundant arts programming
and a shrinking audience.

In the first essay, Brian Newman,
former CEO of the Tribeca
Film Institute, declares that the
nonprofit arts sector is grossly overbuilt and woefully undercapitalized.
As a result, it is incapable of coping
with the way technology has altered how individuals
create, share, and participate in
arts experiences. His bitter medicine for the
sector is to admit that more arts groups
need to merge and “many more organizations
need to be shut down entirely.”

In her essay “Please Don’t Start a Theater Company!” Rebecca Novick encourages artists
to “operate as bands do—coming together
to play a few gigs, then dissolving as people’s
interests diverge.” Novick implores
established arts organizations to invite younger
artists to bring innovations to their institutions,
and she warns funders to “stop advising young artists to replicate the standard
nonprofi tmodel.” David
McGraw, a professor of arts entrepreneurship
at the University of
Iowa, also criticizes foundations
that reward arts organizations for
longevity rather than creativity.
Like Novick, he suggests that
more support go to artists who
create multiyear projects.

The potential for philanthropists to be heroes or villains is a clear theme
here. In an essay co-authored by Ian Moss
and Daniel Reed, an arts blogger and a management
consultant, technology is hailed as a
21st-century arts funder’s best friend. They
argue that a “guided crowdsourcing” approach
to arts funding would vastly expand
the number of artists and the amount of artistic product that could be evaluated. If
grantmakers harness the wisdom of crowds,
they argue, philanthropists may be able to
make funding decisions that are not only
more informed, but more equitable as well.

Although some of the 20Under40 authors
believe that dysfunction in the traditional
nonprofit arts sector can be remedied, others
are ready to abandon the nonprofit paradigm
altogether. Elizabeth Lamb, a curator
in Portland, Ore., presents a case study of
successful online art stores and a gallery and
apparel shop that have taken a customer-centric
approach to their programming.

Reinventing the arts and arts education
is not just about new business models. In the
collection, there are punchy essays about the
way art school students are graded, why contemporary
dance is losing its expressive
power, and why 21st-century arts educators
should teach computer programming.

Of the 20 selections, several cover old
ground in predictable ways: testing in schools
means less time for arts classes; preschoolers
need art too. Although much of the book is
dedicated to expressing frustration with the status quo, there is a high level of optimism
about the future. That optimism is grounded
in a faith that technology can be used
much more creatively; that nonprofit and
for-profit business models can be successful;
and that Gen Xers and Millennials are
going to get their art fix with or without established
arts organizations.

Although the anthology showcases a rising
generation of arts leaders, two established
leaders make cameos. Diane Ragsdale,
a former arts program officer at the Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation, laments that “what’s
killing this field is that people are beginning
to leave it. People make it into large institutions
and get stuck in middle management
jobs with no access to power and no opportunity
to try new things.” This critique is
echoed by arts consultant Eric Booth: “We
talk a good game about collaboration and
openness to new ideas in the arts, but the input
from our younger professionals is neither
sought nor honored as regular practice.”

20Under40 puts new ideas from younger
professionals on the table. Now the question is: Who will pick them up?

Marc Vogl is a program officer at the William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation managing grants to San
Francisco Bay Area arts organizations and developing
strategies to promote next generation arts leadership.
Vogl served on the Obama Campaign’s Arts Policy
Committee, and was the 2010 recipient of the Americans
for the Arts Emerging Leader Award.